A Sanitation Worker Who Lost His Two Daughters Asked To Serenade These Two Graduates On The Street And It Will Break You

In fact, as the Class of 2020 prepares to launch their caps into the air of opportunity, there’s actually quite a bit to look forward to. Even as we face a world of uncertainty and stress during these times. Two high school graduates received this lesson of hope, positivity, and looking forward to the future when they stepped outside for photos to celebrate their graduation.

Jayden Ines Gutierrez was taking snaps of her two cousins preparing to graduate from high school when she captured a pretty endearing moment.

While sporting their caps and gowns Gutierrez’s cousins were posing for pictures when an Ontario waste truck stopped before them and a sanitation worker made a request. The man, identified as Bruce Johnson, asked if he could serenade the two graduates. Turns out, he picked a Whitney Houston classic. That’s right, to celebrate the students the man sang the lyrics to “Greatest Love Of All.”

“When I see girls do what you do, I celebrate,” the sanitation driver, encouraged the two graduates to “always keep reaching.” He also urged them to “keep working hard and making your family proud.”

The sweet moment had a pretty heartbreaking twist, unfortunately.

Johnson revealed to them that he lost two daughters, one of which according to DailyBulletin.com was a junior in high school, tragic car accidents. Johnson explained to the students that he’s often compelled to sing whenever he sees women on the road to graduation because he cannot help but think about them.

As of Monday, Gutierrez’s video received 1.8 million views and 37,700 likes.

Congratulations to your sister and her cousin. I work with Bruce he is a great man and he has a heart of gold we all love him!

No doubt the comments on Twitter were filled with a babble of crying emojis.

Fortunately, Gutierrez says she’s yet to see a single negative comment from users online. “No one has said one single bad thing about it. I’ve never seen that on Twitter before,” she said. According to Guiterrez, her sister, Jule Gutierrez, is graduating from Corona High School and her cousin, Jada Rancharan, is graduating from Colony High School in Ontario.

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A Florida Teen Has Overcome Immense Obstacles, Including Homelessness, To Become His School’s Valedictorian

Right now we are in the midst of so much change. There is so much going on in the world – from a global pandemic that has left millions of us in social isolation to a brand new social justice movement in the wake of murder of unarmed Black men.

We’re being bombarded with so much serious news, it’s hard to remember that there are still people out there leading powerful, incredible lives and making a difference.

One Florida teen has overcome all the odds, including years of homeless, to graduate from his high school as valedictorian and we need to celebrate and recognize this huge accomplishment.

Martin Folsom graduated at the top of his class after struggling through years of homelessness.

Since he was a child, Martin Folsom and his mother Melva have been in and out of homelessness, according to Jacksonville television station WJXT.

Despite all the challenges he faced through the years, Folsom managed to keep his focus on his studies — and his efforts paid off when he was named his class’ valedictorian and graduated from Philip Randolph Career Academy in Jacksonville, FL.

“It kind of gave me a jolt in my chest a little bit, so it was a good feeling,” Folsom said in a video interview shared by KTRK. “It means a lot and it gives me a sense of all I’ve done and all I have accomplished was worth it.”

After college – Martin plans to attend Valdosta State University – he hopes to one day work for the FBI.

Martin credits his mom’s dedication and compassion for helping him succeed.

During his time in high school, Martin’s mom recalled desperately searching for a place to live with her son.

“Martin and I were in downtown McDonald’s and literally had nowhere to go,” she shared with WJXT. “I was on the phone calling people, calling organizations, and by the grace of God, we got into a shelter that day.”

Even with an uncertain living situation, Martin didn’t let that affect his studies.

“I never thought to myself, ‘I can’t do this anymore’ or ‘I’m done with this,'” explained the teen, who served as class president from freshman year through senior year. “It’s always been, ‘Well, it happened again and I’ve gotta keep myself up and keep moving forward.'”

He was set to walk across the stage last week for graduation, but that was canceled due to the pandemic.

Still, he isn’t letting that damper his spirits — especially since Martin had to overcome hurdle after hurdle to earn the high honor. He and his mom have struggled with homelessness since he was a kid, and throughout his four years of high school. They became homeless while fleeing Melva’s ex-husband, who has since been sentenced to 40 years in prison for murder.

Within two years, the mother and son reportedly lived in different shelters across five states before setting in Jacksonville.

“It’s been a rocky road, been a lot of hardships, but seeing myself here right now, about to graduate and go to college, it feels good knowing that all the stuff I’ve done, it was worth it,” Martin said.

He served as the class president for his grade for four years straight, from 9th grade to 12th grade. Now he will go on to college in the fall — and says that will be a big day for his family.

“As far as I know I’m the first person in my family to actually get a college degree,” he said.

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FIERCE LGBTQ Couples Are Sharing How They Met And It’s The Sweetest Thing

FIERCE LGBTQ Couples Are Sharing How They Met And It’s The Sweetest Thing

As we highlight Pride month, we wanted to share beautiful stories of LGBTQ+ love. To do so, we recently asked our FIERCE readers on Instagram to tell us how they met their partners and the results were not only hilarious but deeply inspiring.

Love is love and we love this kind of love.

Check it out!

The old slide in trick.

On their start to being ~educated latinas~

“My girlfriend and I met at the end of our first year of law school. She would say that I curved her for a few months before we became close. Almost three years later, we are both attorneys and looking forward to where life takes us.” – legalricanmujer

These two lovers who met while pushing for a joint interest

“We met in boot camp! 10 years ago (we’ve been together 2 /1/2 years, married 1 yr.” –hey_itsaj18

Chicas who started out on the same path and stuck together.

“We met in Nursing school we graduated together. That was 4 years ago, she’s a psychiatric nurse and I’m a geriatric nurse.” – m_a_r_i_a__j_o_h_a_n_n_a

They found love in a pandemic place.

Turns out the internet is the ultimate matchmaker.

“On the HER app. The same day she liked my profile she ended up coming into my job. I saw her but she didn’t see me. I ended up messaging her that night when I got off of work & we have been inseparable ever since. 3 years later and everyday I fall in love with her over & over again.” – _yourfavoritepoet_

And this is the most hilarious one of all.

“My wife @chulaworldand I were both seeing the same guy (total 🐶) …… so when we found out about each other we met up! And we have LITERALLY been inseparable ever since. Married on 4/20/19.” –bunuelitas

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